Health is wealth

Once upon a time, there lived a generous and kind-hearted king. But the people weren’t happy with their king because the king was very lazy and would not do anything other than eating and sleeping.

He spent days and weeks and months in his bed either eating something or sleeping. The king became a potato couch and the people started to worry about the king’s health.

One day, the king realized that he couldn’t even move his body anymore, not even his foot. He became very fat and his enemies made fun of him, calling him ‘fatty king’, ‘bulky king’ etc.

The king invited expert doctors from various parts of his country and offered them generous rewards to make him fit. Unfortunately, none could help the king regain his health and fitness. The king spent enormous amounts of money but everything went in vain.

One fine morning, a holy man visited the country. He heard about the bad state of the king’s health, and informed the minister at the palace that he could easily cure the king. Hearing the promising words, the minister became very happy. He requested the king to meet the holy man to get rid of his problem.

The holy man resided at a distant place. Since the king could not move his body, he asked the minister to bring the holy man to the palace, but the holy man refused. He said that the king had to go to him, in order to get cured.

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After strenuous efforts, the king met the holy man at the latter’s residence. The holy man complimented the king saying that he was a good ruler, and said that he would soon regain his health. He asked the king to come for treatment the next day. He also told the king that the king would be treated only if he came on foot to the holy man’s residence.

The king was unable to walk even a few steps on the road, but aided by his followers, he reached the holy man’s place. Unfortunately, the holy man was not available there and his devotee requested the king to come and meet him the next day for treatment.

This was repeated for two weeks and the king never met the holy man, and never had any treatment.

Gradually, the king realized that he felt a lot lighter, lost a considerable amount of weight and felt more active than before. He realized the reason why the holy man asked him to reach his place by walking. The walking was good exercise for the king.

Very soon, the king regained his health, and the people in his kingdom were very happy.